Venezuela.
Venezuela
1923
Venezuelan comics, called historietas or comiquitas, grew out of press caricature that began in 1843 in the paper El Promotor.
Leoncio Martínez's weekly Fantoches (1923) and the humour digest El Gallo Pelón (1953) gave local cartoonists a home while the big dailies mostly bought US syndicated strips, and Pedro León Zapata's daily Zapatazos and Jorge Blanco's silent strip El Náufrago became national landmarks. Since the 1980s anthologies such as Clips and Venezuela en Cómics have kept a small scene alive, while several cartoonists lost newspaper jobs over political drawings in 2014.
18
22
1923
1980s
Artists from Venezuela in the archive.
Comics from Venezuela in the archive.
Fantoches, the earliest comic from Venezuela in the archive.
The decade when the most new comics from Venezuela began.
historieta
Venezuela in 5 chapters
A short history you can leaf through. Click a page, use the arrow keys, or press Turn the page to read on.
Venezuela.
5 chapters
Chapter 1
1843
to 1922
Press caricature
1843
to 1922
Chapter 01
Press caricature
In 1843 the paper El Promotor began using drawings to caricature politicians. Illustrated papers such as El Zancudo Ilustrado (1876) and El Punch (1884) followed, where the draughtsman Pablo Emilio Romero and the engraver Muñoz Tébar made the first comic designs for advertising and humour.
1923
to 1952
Chapter 02
Fantoches and the dictatorships
Leoncio Martínez founded the satirical weekly Fantoches in 1923, with its Pinocho comic, but the Gómez regime closed it in 1932 and it was suspended again in 1937. Dictators arrested and censored critical artists, and newspapers such as El Universal mostly bought strips from King Features Syndicate. Rafael Rivero Oramas issued two Tío Nicolás stories as comics in 1932 and 1933 and edited the children's magazine Onza, Tigre y León from 1938 to 1949.
1953
to 1979
Chapter 03
El Gallo Pelón and Zapata
The humour weekly El Gallo Pelón, launched in July 1953 and regarded as the first Venezuelan comic in digest format, carried features such as Carlos Cruz-Diez's Zamurito and Luis Britto García's El Profesor Venezolanito. Pedro León Zapata started at Dominguito in 1959 and drew his daily Zapatazos in El Nacional from 1965, and he directed the humour magazine El Sádico Ilustrado from 1978 to 1980.
1980
to 2002
Chapter 04
El Náufrago, Coquimbo and local superheroes
Jorge Blanco's wordless El Náufrago appeared in El Diario de Caracas from 13 July 1980 until 1998, and in Maracaibo Pam-Chito drew the daily strip Coquimbo. Juan Medina's superhero El Guardián ran in the children's weekly Meridianito, the anthology Clips (1986) lasted eight issues, and El Camaleón ran as a humour weekly from 1988 to 2003.
2003
to today
Chapter 05
Anthologies, the web and exile
Sammy Rodríguez launched the anthology Venezuela en Cómics in 2003, and the online project Zuplemento has published around 200 artists. In 2014 Rayma Suprani was dismissed from El Universal and Roberto Weil from Últimas Noticias over cartoons, and Alexis Ziritt drew the space opera Space Riders for the US publisher Black Mask in 2015.
The comics to know
- Fantoches1923 · comics magazineLeoncio Martínez. Satirical weekly, repeatedly closed under Gómez, with the comic Pinocho.
- El Gallo Pelón1953 · comics magazineVarious cartoonists. Humour weekly regarded as the first Venezuelan comic in digest format.
- Zapatazos1965 · comic stripPedro León Zapata. Daily cartoon in El Nacional until Zapata's death in 2015.
- El Sádico Ilustrado1978 · comics magazinePedro León Zapata (director). Humour magazine published until 1980.
- El Náufrago1980 · comic stripJorge Blanco. Silent strip in El Diario de Caracas until 1998, revived in 2019.
- Clips1986 · comics magazineGrupo U.G (Sandro Bassi, Juan Carlos Darias and Lindoro Vera). Anthology magazine for national talent, eight issues.
- Venezuela en Cómics2003 · comics magazineSammy Rodríguez. Anthology with 12 issues by 2017.
The people to know
- Leoncio Martínez1888 to 1941Leo, caricaturist and founder of Fantoches, a comics pioneer.
- Pedro León Zapata1929 to 2015Painter and cartoonist whose daily Zapatazos ran in El Nacional for 50 years.
- Jorge BlancoBorn 1945Creator of the silent strip El Náufrago.
- Pam-Chito1943 to 2016Maracaibo cartoonist, creator of the strip Coquimbo.
- Rayma SupraniBorn 1969Main cartoonist of El Universal for 19 years until her dismissal in 2014.
- Eduardo SanabriaBorn 1970EDO, newspaper humour cartoonist from 1994 to 2008.
- Alexis ZirittArtist of Space Riders for the US publisher Black Mask.
More artists from Venezuela
- Omar Cruzcartoonist
- Juan Medinacomics artist
- Carlos Cruz-Diez1923 to 2019 · artist
- Rafael Rivero Oramas1904 to 1992 · illustrator
- Régulo PérezBorn 1929 · painter
- Jorge Coronacomics artist
- Maximo V. LorenzoBorn 1982 · comics artist
- Roberto WeilBorn 1950 · editorial cartoonist
- Natalia VelardeBorn 1994 · comics artist
- Laura GuariscoBorn 1991 · comics artist
- Fernando PinillaBorn 1982 · cartoonist
More comics from Venezuela
All 22 comics- Son Vistos Como Zombiscomic book series
- Micaurocomic book series
- El Profesor Venezolanitocomic strip
- El Camaleón1988 to 2003 · comics magazine
- Las aventuras del Tío Nicolás1932 to 1933 · comic
- Zamuritocomic strip
- El Guardiáncomic strip
- Camioneticas de Combate Go!comic book series
- Rufi Sonrisacomic strip
- Space Riders2015 · comic book series
- Pinochocomic strip
- El Patriota1993 · comic book series